What a wonderful description

I have been quiet while I complete Cate’s US tax return for 2015. When I say complete – all I have to do is fill in boxes and answer about 1 million questions on the online forms with which PWC supplies me.

Most of the answers I can get although some of the more obscure questions require a bit of foraging – at which I am getting better. Some of the questions are unanswerable. These include things like what was the maximum value of a particular superannuation account during the year – if available.

Well the answer is not available because I can only get balances as at 30 June and 31 December – but if I use their designation N/A (for not available) I know that all that will happen is that I will get an email asking what the maximum balance was.

So I have to make these things up – and this seem to keep them quiet.

I also have to do an Austrian return because of some arcane reason but I just fill in the boxes and send off the forms.

Some months after doing this I will receive a completely incomprehensible pile of documents in German - to which I have to attest the truthfulness.

I think it is inevitable that one day I will end up in jail in either the USA or Austria and I hope it is in Austria because I have seen episodes of ‘Lockup’ on TV and prisons here don’t look particularly inviting.

I have been cheered up immensely by the reemergence of Sarah Palin. She has added some much needed humor to the otherwise stultifying spectacle of politicians of all persuasions trying to out lie each other.

The best description I have seen of her speech is that it sounds like ‘post apocalyptic slam poetry’. What a wonderful description.